


The Wolf Culls Their Own

by Merfilly



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-18
Updated: 2016-10-18
Packaged: 2018-08-23 04:42:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8314306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: AU where Wolffe, while preparing reports, notices a pattern. It's one he knows his General will not tolerate, for the waste of Vod'e lives is abominable.





	

Wolffe chewed on the end of a piece of jerky… a gift to General Plo from Commander Tano, but Plo didn't actually care for it. He was just too kind to tell his Foundling that. He kept reading over the casualty reports, seeing names where only numbers existed, filing away which units would be flying light until more under-trained shinies could be moved out to them.

His instincts twigged hard, though as he came across one unit with more extensive casualties than he recalled seeing since the 327th lost their capital ships. More to the point, he was pretty certain this unit had been on the last list for heavy casualties too.

He pulled up the unit's details, looking at the campaigns they had been involved in, then tapped a coded query to Kamino, verifying the number of men that had been assigned over the course of the war. He plugged the numbers into a graph, pulled all the facts into his datapad, and then set off for his General. If there was one thing he knew better than his own name, it was that General Plo Koon was going to have Words with this Jedi that was wasting brother's lives.

He reached the General's quarters and chimed for entry after sealing his _buy'ce_. The door lit for his entry, and he passed into the airlock assembly, let it cycle, then on into the quarters that were designed for Plo Koon to manage without his protective gear.

"Yes, Wolffe?" Plo greeted him, indicating the chair beside the table where Plo was currently eating. "It must be quite important if you are willing to join me here."

"I never mind coming in here, sir, and this is something you should be aware of privately, before you act on it."

Plo set his spoon back in the soup he had been enjoying and reached out for the datapad, which Wolffe gave willingly. The soup remained untouched as the Kel Dor master studied the data he had been given. When he finally looked up, without giving the datapad back, Wolffe felt a surge of satisfaction, because he knew what anger looked like in those black and silver eyes. His beloved General was going to have the other Jedi for lunch, and Wolffe was going to enjoy seeing it happen.

"Contact Master Kit Fisto and request he join us in orbit around Krell's current planetary base. It seems you have found our next objective, my Commander." The calm words were edged with an energy that Wolffe knew well, after their campaigns together. The requests made perfect sense as well. The men there would need new leadership, and few were as gifted as Kit Fisto about handling such matters, until the unit was either dissolved into others or a new general was appointed.

"Yes sir." Wolffe stood to leave with a nod of his head.

"And Commander?"

"Yes sir?"

"Thank you. For trusting in me."

"Of course, sir." 

In the hall, Wolffe cracked his seals, a grim smile on his lips. That time in a life-pod had taught Wolffe that Plo Koon truly did value them as sentient beings, not flesh-droids. This was one more piece of proof of that.

+++

Pong Krell had been visited by other Jedi before, but never a Master of the High Council, especially not one of Plo Koon's rank. He was surprised, but didn't think anything of it.

That was until he saw the vambraces Plo Koon wore, with their intricate designs which matched the art on the small squad of those men following him.

How could any self-respecting being willingly affiliate with the flesh-droids of Kamino?

"Pong Krell, I am here to relieve you of command," Plo Koon said without preamble or explanation. "Master Fisto will be taking charge until a new general is assigned."

"This is highly irregular and unwarranted," the Besalisk protested, wondering what had brought it on.

"Consider yourself lucky not to be charged immediately with treason, Master Jedi," Plo Koon said in a strong voice. "Evidence has been gathered, and you will accompany me to the Temple to present your case."

The accusation did not move Krell to shock. Instead, he found himself on the defensive, almost immediately, as his private plans to undo the Republic forces and join with the Sith leader of the Separatists once he had done enough damage came apart. He opened his mouth to command his troops… and then noticed that they were all shaking their heads, milling about around the meeting of the trip of Jedi and the Wolfpack. So they were not fully cowed and indoctrinated enough for him to use, apparently.

"And if I refuse?" he asked, stalling for time.

"You will be removed," Plo said in a tone that Pong Krell vaguely recalled from the Stark Hyperspace War. Plo Koon had been an implacable foe, they said.

"I submit to the will of the Council, then," Pong Krell said, moving forward peacefully, walking toward the waiting ship that had brought down the Jedi and their flesh-droids. Kit Fisto moved to meet the Commander or Captain of this unit, to begin working through what was needed. He had seen the data, fully supported Plo Koon's choice to both remove the man and take him back to answer to the Council. 

Kit had just introduced himself to the officers when he felt a surge in the Force from the ship that was lifting off, and realized that Plo was in danger from a man who was very much not a Jedi any longer.

+++

Wolffe hadn't cared for the way Krell capitulated, his instincts working overtime on how a man that could waste life like that wouldn't argue more.

Apparently Plo had been just as wary, though Wolffe had seen no sign of it in the man's frame. The moment Pong Krell ignited both lightsabers, inside the closed ship, Plo had whirled and met the dual blades on his singular lightsaber.

Boost, piloting for them this trip, did exactly what he ought, taking the ship back down to a landing, throwing the hatch open as Plo held the Besalisk at bay. Wolffe, Comet, and Sinker had their blasters out, but couldn't risk a shot that might be deflected back into their General.

It didn't matter, though, as Kit Fisto burst onto the ship, and then the tide of battle changed from Pong Krell commanding the offense to the well-coordinated friends taking the fight over with confidence and ruthless strategy. Wolffe found himself fascinated to see the full extent of his beloved General's skill when paired with another Jedi he knew so well.

The attempt to disarm and capture was crippled by the tight space of the fight, and Wolffe could almost cheer when Plo's lightsaber went low and left, through the Besalisk's breathing organ, while Kit's plunged through the upper right, closer to the major circulatory organ. 

Then, Wolffe learned one more lesson about the man he admired and respected more than any other being. Once Plo had shoved the dual lightsabers away from their wielder, he lowered himself down beside the dying man. 

"Why?" he asked, rather than offer any kind of comfort as some of the other idiot Jedi might have done.

Krell coughed, then spat blood out. "The Republic will fall. Saw it… just doing my part to get to the winning side."

"Visions are rarely a good reason for violence. Especially when you destroy innocent lives, Pong Krell."

Having his answers, Plo Koon stood, giving neither succor nor platitudes… and leaving Krell to bleed out or suffocate rather than offer a faster death.

Wolffe filed it away in his mind that to abuse those Plo protected was to invoke a dangerous, hard-edged side. It was no wonder he was very much a member of the Wolfpack.

"Master?" Kit asked, as they stepped off the ship with the Pack, to find any who would remove the body inside, once Krell was truly dead. "You took a very confrontational tone from the beginning. Why?" Some of Krell's men, on being told by Sinker, went in, and Wolffe would have sworn it was just so they could know for a fact the monster was dying.

Plo rested a hand on his friend's shoulder, and indicated the confused, hurting Vod'e that were the men Krell had most recently abused. "I could tell he was already lost. He had denied them their sentient freedom, what little the Republic has allowed, Kit. Look."

As the Nautolan looked around, so did Wolffe, at all the Vod'e, many of whom had fresh armor, that shine not quite lost, but even the scratched, damaged sets… were blank. Not even a regimental color to replace the basic issue.

"Their art," Kit said softly.

"The outward expression of who they each are," Plo agreed. "Take care of them, my friend, and nurture them to health. I will endeavor to find a general that understands their needs."

"Yes, Master Plo."


End file.
